Amazon released a new clip for Reacher, its upcoming series adaptation of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels starring Alan Ritchson as the fistfighting action hero. Reacher’s first season will adapt Child’s first novel, Killing Floor.
The Jack Reacher novels focus on a retired military police officer who gets dragged into crime investigations and ends up punching his way out of conspiracies involving bad guys in positions of power. In the first book, Reacher is accused of murder in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, where he tries to lead a peaceful life. The series first trailer already underlined how peace is not on the menu for the justice-serving military expert, who’ll have to fight to clear his name. The trailer also includes some thrilling scenes of a prison-bathroom brawl between Jack and half-a-dozens convicts who’ll need to eat through straws for a couple of weeks.
Now, the new clip allows us to see the entire prison-brawl scene. And it's glorious! Ritchson uses his impressive size to take down the welcoming committee he and another prisoner meet in the bathroom. Even though the prisoners have knives, Ritchson's Reacher doesn't take too long to drop all their bodies on the floor, bloodied and beaten, while only getting a few scratches himself. If this is the level of set-pieces we can expect from the whole series, we'll have an action-pack delight once Reacher premieres.
The Jack Reacher books were previous adapted into a film in 2012 and 2016, with Tom Cruise starring as the titular character. The two movies adapted Jack Reacher’s ninth and eighteenth Jack Reacher novels, respectively, failing to resonate with critics despite a favorable box office reception. By showing Jack Reacher’s journey from its genesis, Amazon’s series has the chance of painting the character in a better light while also ensuring they can produce new seasons should the show prove to be successful.
Reacher has another big advantage compared to the previous film adaptation: Emmy-nominated writer Nick Santora is the writer and showrunner of the show. Santora's worked on the hit drama Prison Break and earned her Emmy nod for 2020's Most Dangerous Game, which means she’s used to dealing with thrillers filled with action and criminal networks. Reacher cast also includes Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald, Chris Webster, Hugh Thompson, Maria Sten, Harvey Guillén, Kristin Kreuk, Currie Graham, Marc Bendavid, Willie C. Carpenter, Maxwell Jenkins, and Bruce McGill.
Reacher’s eight-episode first season premieres exclusively on Prime Video on February 4, 2022. Check out the new clip below.
Here's the official synopsis of Reacher:
Reacher follows Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served. When Reacher arrives in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, he finds a community grappling with its first homicide in 20 years. The cops immediately arrest him and eyewitnesses claim to place Reacher at the scene of the crime. While he works to prove his innocence, a deep-seated conspiracy begins to emerge, one that will require Reacher’s keen mind and hard-hitting fists to deal with. One thing above all is for sure: they picked the wrong guy to take the fall.